Friendships
by WingsofFreedomHanjiZoe
Summary: Just a quick fluff piece that came to me when I was trying to sleep. Just a quick little LeviHan friendship fic.


Hanji had never really been one for friends before. That wasn't to say that she didn't enjoy a little banter between her squadmates every now and then, especially in her younger years, but as she watched more of her friends die and she found herself being pulled deeper into her research, she was less and less inclined to seek out companionship in the late hours of the night for comfort. For years, she busied herself with her Titan studies constantly reminding herself that what she did was for the betterment of humanity and that she was making a difference. _If I can just find their weaknesses, if I can just find some better way to fight them, then that's the best comfort I can offer myself and my fallen comrades. _She repeated these thoughts in her mind so many times, they became her manta of sorts.

Then, she met Levi.

To say that the change in her life was immediate would be grossly exaggerated. In fact, with the exception of the few minutes she'd spent talking with him and his friends on his first mission, Hanji didn't have a conversation with Levi until almost six months after he'd joined the Corps. And even then, the initial change was so subtle, she almost missed it herself. But it was a conversation that, in retrospect, she knew she'd never be able to forget.

It was late that night, Hanji had once again been so absorbed in her research that she'd forgotten entirely about eating and sleeping for the past two and a half days. The only reason why she was in the dining hall at that precise moment was because she was finally out of theories to write down and she knew that if Moblit or Erwin were to find her still at her desk scribbling away after three full days, they would have a conniption fit and force her into bed and feeding her themselves. So she decided to spare them the fight and lazily rummaged through the food stocks trying to force her eyes to stay open. She was slowly reaching the halfway point between sleep and consciousness when his gruff and irritated voice cut through the blanket of silence that surrounded her.

"Oi, Shitty Glasses, what the hell are you doing up so late?"

Hanji turned, blinking blearily and forcing her tired eyes to look into his. It was the first time since that first conversation in that abandoned fort that she had had a chance to really look at him and it almost shocked her how much older, how much more broken, he seemed to have become in the past six months. The bags under his eyes had grown darker, the furrow in his brow between his eyes more pronounced and wrinkled. However, his eyes still had that alert coldness of freshly sharpened blades.

"Are you going to answer my question, or did you fall asleep staring at me, Four Eyes?" the wrinkle in Levi's brow deepened as he waited impatiently for her response. Hanji shook her head and gave him a small smile.

"Ah, sorry, Levi. I haven't slept in three days. I've been too busy writing down my theories and cataloguing my findings from the last expedition, that I completely forgot about the basic needs of the human body," she nibbled on a piece of cheese as she spoke and turned her full attention back to the food, expecting the man to leave her be. Instead, Levi sat down next to her.

"What do you mean, 'findings,'" he asked quietly. Hanji almost choked on her bread as her brain raced to catch up to his words. She coughed twice before turning back to him with a huge grin.

"My observations on the Titans," she said loudly. Erwin won't actually let me bring any inside the walls to experiment on, but I've been writing down everything I notice about them when we're outside of the walls, from how the abnormals reacted to our battle techniques to the largest group of them to whether there were any patterns to their attacks… Hopefully, if I'm able to compile enough compelling data and make my argument before Erwin and the higher ups, they'll give me the go-ahead to start doing experiments on living Titans within the walls!" Levi's face gave away nothing as the brunette spoke. He just stared at her watching her arms flail and her eyes light up as she thought about the experiments she wanted to carry out.

"Why?"

"Pardon?" Hanji focused in on his face as Levi narrowed his eyes and glared at the table.

"Why do you want to do such a dangerous thing? Why do you watch them? Why do you feel the need to care about these vile things as your squadmates are being eaten before your very eyes?" Hanji could see his fists clenching tightly in his lap as he thought about the lives he'd seen lost in the past six months, about Farlan and Isabel who'd never made it back inside the walls with him and whose deaths he felt personally responsible for.

"Well," she said quietly, "I guess it's because I'm watching my squadmates dying and because I can't help but feel sad at the loss and I just know that if we were able to actually learn something useful about them that we'd be able to put up a better fight, that we'd be able to actually push back and take back what they stole from us. Most importantly, though, is that if I were able to study their weaknesses and learn more about them, maybe we wouldn't lose so many soldiers when we fight. And if we were able to eliminate them or push them back and gain some territory back, then the people within the walls would be free to live happier, safer lives. They could think more about pursuing their dreams rather than worrying about whether or not their lives will be in danger if the Titans somehow manage to break through our defenses." Hanji sighed and leaned back in her chair gazing up at the ceiling with as close to a feeling of longing as she'd felt in years. "I just want people to be free and safe, you know?" She turned to face Levi, who was staring at her intently, the wrinkle in between his eyes gone, and a ghost of a smile dancing over his lips. He stood and, after a brief pause, lightly ruffled her hair.

"You'd better not forget that, Shitty Glasses. If you die before you get to make your dream come true, I won't forgive you," he said with a smile as he left the mess hall. Hanji stared after him wondering at what just happened.

_Levi… Smiled at me? But, he never smiles… _Her thoughts cycled around this fact as she finished eating and cleaned up her mess. _I guess his eyes are less like steel and more like silver, though. Especially when he smiles. _She focused on this observation as she collapsed onto her bed, eyes drifting shut and body shutting down for its well deserved rest.

It wasn't until she woke up a day and a half later that she realized that Levi had actually listened to her ramblings through to the end and had even asked her why she was so determined.

_Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to call him a friend. _


End file.
